In 1703, a French diplomat returns to the brutal court of Peter the Great, bearing secrets from a past life in Moscow. M. de Brousson carries the weight of a forgotten Russian marriage alongside a delicate mission for Louis XIV, but the courts of St. Petersburg and Moscow prove more treacherous than any diplomatic theater. His young secretary has fallen hopelessly in love with Najine Zotof, a woman whose beauty has drawn the dangerous attention of the Czar himself. As Peter modernizes Russia with iron-willed determination, the old world's romantic rivalries collide with new political ambitions. The stakes could not be higher: a king's favor, a kingdom's future, and the hearts of those caught between power and passion.
